" And when the
full moon had risen, Haensel took his little sister by the hand and
followed the pebbles, which shone like newly-coined silver pieces and
showed them the way.
They walked the whole night long, and by break of day came once more
to their father's house. They knocked at the door, and when the woman
opened it and saw that it was Haensel and Grethel, she said, "You
naughty children, why have you slept so long in the forest? We thought
you were never coming back at all!" The father, however, rejoiced, for
it had cut him to the heart to leave them behind alone.
Not long afterward, there was once more great scarcity in all parts,
and the children heard their mother saying at night to their father,
"Everything is eaten again; we have one-half loaf left, and after that
there is an end. The children must go. We will take them farther into
the wood, so that they will not find their way out again; there is no
other means of saving ourselves!" The man's heart was heavy, and he
thought, "It would be better for thee to share the last mouthful with
thy children." The woman, however, would listen to nothing that he
had to say, but scolded and reproached him. He who says A must say
B likewise, and, as he had yielded the first time, he had to do so a
second time also.
The children were, however, still awake and had heard the
conversation. When the old folks were asleep, Haensel again got up,
and wanted to go out and pick up pebbles; but the woman had locked
the door, and Haensel could not get out.
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